Democrats blocking Biden’s agenda represent some of nation’s poorest

Joe Manchin and Henry Cuellar's districts have high rates of poverty and income inequality but they are holding up a crucial bill in Congress that would benefit working-class Americans

Several of the leading Democrats in Congress who have stood in the way of Joe Biden's $3.5tn budget package, which includes popular provisions widely expected to help working-class Americans, have taken that stance despite representing districts that have some of the highest rates of poverty and income inequality in the country.

The lawmakers, including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas, are resisting a progressive agenda due to their own centrist instincts and strategy for political survival.